


Lips of an Angel

by BeautyOnFyre



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Age Difference, Character Death, F/M, Infidelity, Tenorra, Zukorra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 08:42:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1260097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautyOnFyre/pseuds/BeautyOnFyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Your first love didn't work out but I'm sure your friends are just grieving as much as you are." Tenzin's attempts at having a heart-to-heart sounded lame to his own ears.</p><p>Korra let out a bitter chuckle. "My first love was not Mako. I fell in love with another before him but I never had a chance."</p><p> </p><p>A tale of infidelity, truth, love, broken people and broken hearts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lips of an Angel

**Author's Note:**

> The song lyrics in this fanfiction are Lips of an Angel by Hinder. It inspired this fic.

**\---**  
  
 **Honey, why you crying**  
 **Is everything okay?**  
  
 **\---**  
  
Tenzin's air nomad robes whipped around him in the wind as he watched Korra. She sat on the edge of the air temple roof, soft sobs barely audible over the wind. This was the third time this week that she had come up here to relieve her turmoil. It seemed that these nights on the roof of the temple were making her a bit better.  
  
As of late, she had been distant and lethargic. She had watched Mako die at the hands of the Equalists before Amon was run off after being outed as a blood bender. Mako's brother Bolin didn't want her around as he grieved which seemingly stunted her own grieving process.  
  
Tenzin's concern was great. He would watch her more than usual. He found himself not wanting to let her out of his sight. His wife, Pema, told him she needed a shoulder to lean on while she grieved and, as the Avatar's current teacher, the duty fell on his shoulders.  
  
He let out a long-suffered sigh and sat alongside her, feet dangling off the second story of the temple. "What are you feeling right now?"  
  
She focused her eyes on Avatar Aang's monument and replied, "I'm not sure I do feel anything right now."  
  
Tenzin thought for a moment and scooted closer minutely. "Close your eyes. Humor me, please." His right hand lifted from the roof and started to trace small circles on her back. "What do you feel?"  
  
"Darkness."  
  
"Darkness isn't a feeling. Remove yourself from your mind and just focus on your breath, in and out." She followed his instructions and he continued, "Let your breath flow into your lungs and exhale with the wind. Let your mind go. Picture everything in your mind as a bunch of balloons, Korra. Let go of the balloon that is causing you the most trouble and then slowly release all the other ones too. Watch them float away. Feel my hand, hear my voice and concentrate on your breathing." He stopped talking and let only the sounds of the wind and distant city be heard.  
  
"I feel conflicted, Tenzin. I have been conflicted since I arrived in Republic City. I don't think I am meant to be close to others. All they do is hurt me and I hurt them in return. The world would be better off if I just went back to the South Pole and stayed in the compound for the rest of my life. I would be better off," she finished with her eyes still closed.  
  
"You can't really believe that, Korra. Your first love didn't work out but I'm sure your friends are just grieving as much as you are." Tenzin's attempts at having a heart-to-heart sounded lame to his own ears.  
  
Korra let out a bitter chuckle. "My first love was not Mako. I fell in love with another before him but I never had a chance. I wish I wasn't the Avatar."  
'Everything would be so much less complicated,' she thought.  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **We gotta whisper**  
 **'Cause I can't be too loud…**  
  
 **\---**  
  
It was late and Tenzin had just finished some paperwork before heading to his bedroom to sleep next to his wife. As he kept his paces light and nearly silent, he started down the hallway to check on his kids one last time before bed. All was quiet and restful until he turned the corner and went to walk past the guest room; Korra's room.  
  
She was supposed to be, technically, in the women's dorms that were used by the air acolytes, but Tenzin considered her family enough to share close quarters with his own family. Pema had also insisted and, of course, Pema's word was law in their home. She had too kind a heart to even consider setting up Korra in the dorms.  
  
The light was on and the door left open a touch as he slowed his pace. He paused by the open door and took a cursory glance into Korra's room to see her floor length mirror in the corner reflecting just her hair. The hair disappeared from view and then returned with the rest of Korra's body - her mostly naked body at that.  
  
She finger-combed through her long hair. It had been a couple months since she had cut it and it was slowly starting to creep its way down past her mid-back. She stood in front of her mirror in her chest binding and panties subtly eyeing the shadow in her doorway with a secret smile.  
  
She proceeded to undo her binding and drop the white cloth to the floor before walking to the simple armoire that was in view of the door.  She opened the doors and retrieved a loose tunic to wear to bed before closing the doors and slipping into the over-sized shirt. Korra listened for the almost non-existent breathing to tell her that Tenzin was still there and surely not having completely pure thoughts.  
  
She padded back to her bed and climbed into the sheets before fire bending the candles out with a single twitch of her finger.  
  
Tenzin let out a breath he had unknowingly been holding in. He shouldn't have watched that. The sight of her beautiful figure had kept his feet glued to the floor and his attention unwavering. He took in a deep breath and let it out silently while rubbing his temples. This was so wrong, so perverted of him, he thought. When his hands had dropped back to his sides, his left hand grazed a tenting in his pants. Shit.  
  
He had to get rid of it. Pema knew by now that long nights working in his office were not conducive to sex and would definitely wonder where this came from. "Tenzin?"  
  
The whisper drew him from his thoughts so abruptly that he had almost jumped at the sound. "Tenzin? Is that you? I can't sleep." Korra, he breathed a short sigh of relief. The relief was short-lived when he realized that he had an erection and the cause of it was calling him into her room because she couldn't sleep.  
  
"Yes, it's me," he whispered back as he opened the door a bit more and left it open behind him.  
  
"Will you come sit with me?" The question seemed innocent enough but he found himself with a dilemma. In the room, a little natural light came in from the waning moon, meaning that unless he adjusted himself, his issue would become clear once he sat down. An idea popped into his mind.  
  
"Sure. Let me close the door so that we don't wake the kids," he said as he turned his whole body away. With his left hand, he adjusted his erection in his pants quickly and with his right, he slid the door shut completely. Turning back to Korra, he made his way to the bed and sat on the edge like he did with his children when they wanted to talk before bed.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said quickly, "for everything."  
  
"What do you have to be sorry for?"  
  
She sighed as she sat up in bed, "I'm sorry for not trying harder, mostly. I got frustrated on our first day doing air bending training with the wind gates and I lit them on fire and blasted them apart in my frustration. I know they mean a lot to you and I apologize for that. I'm also sorry for disregarding your orders. I don't mean to do it to spite you, I just wanted to make sure everyone would remain safe from the Equalists." Korra took in a deep breath and let it out. "I really am sorry for being a disappointment to you. I never meant to let you down, Tenzin. Especially not you."  
  
As Korra looked away from his eyes, he moved closer, running his hand along her cheek to her chin and lifting it to meet his gaze. "Korra, you're not a disappointment - not to me."  
  
Her hand moved onto his thigh and she looked down again. This time, his gaze followed hers to see his not-so-concealed erection and he internally winced. She moved her hand overtop of it and stroked along the fabric making him shiver as pleasure shot into his groin. "Korra," he started to protest but she shushed him.  
  
She stroked harder and he groaned. Before he realized what she was doing, she had gotten out from beneath the sheets and had ceased her stroking to straddle his lap. "Did you like what you saw?" she whispered in the faint moonlight. He was about to protest again when she ground her pelvis into his and his hands flew to her hips with the intention of pushing her off. His grip only tightened as she started to kiss along his pulse point on his neck and continued to grind against him sensually. Before he knew what he was doing, Tenzin found himself pulling her hips against his as her voice whispered in his ear again, "Did you like what you saw?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
That single word was all it took. Their lips met in a heated kiss and his hands roved lower to her butt, palming each cheek and pulling her in. He drank in her groan of pleasure as she pulled on his shirt ties to bare his chest. She pulled the shirt tails out of his pants and they broke apart to pull it over his head before reconnecting in a flare of passion.  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **Well, my girl's in the next room.**  
 **Sometimes I wish she was you…**  
  
 **\---**  
  
They were in the gardens this time. Tenzin had intended it to be a conversation about ending their little liaison but he had taken one look at Korra and couldn't do it. If for no other reason, he could continue this affair a little longer to help her work through her emotional issues.  
  
Korra seemed to benefit from their arrangement. Oddly enough, Tenzin observed that Korra seemed to be a lot more in control of every element and more powerful after their 'meetings' together.  
  
'Sex,' his mind chided. 'Call it what it is.'  
  
'Adultery is more like it,' his conscience hissed in his brain. Pema didn't deserve to be cheated on. She was a devoted wife that was carrying his fourth child and was a nurturing mother to his current three offspring. He was a dirty, lying rat that was sleeping with a seventeen year-old girl on the side, in his own family home.  
  
The more he thought about it, the more Tenzin hated himself. But, the more he thought about Korra, the more he realized that he didn't want to let her go. He truly was in love with her. Her big heart, her actions, her words and just - damn - the way she moved. Her movements were always sinuous and flowed like the air he needed to breathe. Every day with her was vibrant and her presence brought new light to his life.  
  
But at that very moment, Korra was having one of her bad days. One of the days when she would look at the old Fire Ferrets Pro-Bending match poster that she kept in her armoire or she would hold a well-worn note from Mako. One of those days when she would remember the things that had gone wrong. On those days, she had been inconsolable. Now, she yearned with a fire beyond compare to have that intimate, physical closeness that she had been deprived of before.  
  
She looked at him with those eyes and he couldn't say no.  
  
That's how he found himself not breaking off their affair but behind a thick row of tall bushes in the gardens, on his back. She had pushed him down before taking off her pants and lowering his. Korra was on top letting out small pants and gasps as she impaled herself on his thick manhood over and over again.  
  
Spirits save him. He was lost in her expressions of pure ecstasy and the feel of her tightly wrapped around him. Then, he heard her breaths becoming quicker and a breathy moan as her walls constricted around his throbbing member and he couldn't hold off his orgasm any longer. She pulled him along over the edge of ecstasy with her.  
  
Finally, Korra halted her hips and let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding before lifting herself from Tenzin and replacing his underwear and pants. She then pulled on her own, not caring about the seed now dripping down the inside of her thighs and staining her own underwear.  
  
She flopped down in the untended, wispy grass behind the bushes beside Tenzin and curled into his side. She wanted to say anything and everything to him but could only squeeze out three words.  
  
"Never let go."  
  
It felt right to let the silence reign between them; only the wind whispering through the leaves could be heard. Nothing more, nothing less.  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **I guess we never really moved on…**  
  
 **\---**  
  
She had started to meditate at Tenzin's insistence and was still startled when she came face-to-face with Aang, the previous Avatar incarnation.  
  
"Avatar Aang. It's a pleasure to see you," she said with a smile. She was truly happy to be able to finally connect with her past life.  
  
Aang, however, frowned a bit. "You have managed to bring balance to the city again but in doing so, you have created an imbalance in your home - my son's home."  
  
Korra was baffled, "I don't understand, Aang."  
  
"You are making yourself happy, which is good, and you have found your equal in my son Tenzin. I must warn you though, your choices do have consequences. If anyone were to find out about you two, he would be faced with a scandal and all future air benders would be labelled with it as well. He is the sole future of an entire society, Korra. Being the only air bender in the entire world is a huge burden to carry but Tenzin's burdens go beyond that. Should Pema find out, do you think she would stay? And the children?"  
  
The resounding 'no' did not have to be said. "Korra, as much as I am you, I am still Aang: a father of three, a faithful husband of many years and a man of my word. Tenzin is the same way. Well, he would be if he didn't love you.  
  
"Never doubt his feelings for you, but I must urge you to do what you must to end this tryst with my son." Aang looked away before meeting Korra's teary eyes. "I know you love him and he sincerely loves you too, but I urge you to let him go. Pema deserves a faithful husband as much as you do. Tenzin cannot be that person for you."  
  
"I-I," her voice broke as tears rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them away quickly. "I understand. If you love something, you have to set it free."  
  
"I'm sorry." A tingling sensation overtook Korra's shoulder as Aang pressed his hand to her. "I have a task for you in the mean time, Korra. Go to the Fire Nation capital and seek out the Fire Lord. You are needed there."  
  
Aang took his hand away and made a half-bow to her. "This is the advice I bring to you."  
  
Before she could react, she was back and looked around. Ikki and Meelo looked at her funny while Tenzin and Jinora were still meditating. She stood up on shaky legs and walked to the house at a brisk pace. She went to the armoire and pulled out her seal skin bag at the bottom before filling the bag with her clothes and sparse possessions. She hesitated for a moment before she also took the air acolyte robes that hung there as well.  
  
It was time for her to move on, even though she didn't want to.  
  
"Korra?"  Things just got harder. "Where are you going? Did something happen?"  
  
"I-" she paused to gather her thoughts. "Aang told me I was needed elsewhere, Pema." Pema gave Korra a pessimistic look like she didn't fully believe her.  
  
"Are you sure that there isn't something wrong?" she pried a bit more.  
  
"I just-" she caught herself again. "I need to go. Aang told me to go during my meditation. He only wants what is best," she said. She threw the last few things she needed into the bag and tightened the draw string on top before moving past the very pregnant Pema to the doorway and pausing.  
  
She looked back to the woman she had wronged before she eyed where Tenzin's fourth child grew. "I want you to know," she said as she met Pema's eyes, "that Aang has been watching over you every day. It's you at the forefront of his spiritual mind. You and your children have someone looking out for you, Pema. Remember that."  
  
With those last words she looked away and left the house, running across the grassy hills to the stables as she heard someone, Jinora, call her name. She led Naga out of the stables, mounted her, and bolted for the docks where she managed to catch the last boat into the city harbor.  
  
The harbor was packed but it didn't take long to find a boat to bring her where she needed to go. It also didn't take long for a flying bison to land beside Naga on the deck of the ship and for Tenzin to climb off of Oogi. "Jinora told me that she saw you running off of the island and that you looked upset. Where are you going? What's wrong?" He asked this of Korra with a worried look. They were ensconced between the two giant animals with no one around to hear them, but they still spoke in quiet tones anyways.  
  
"I spoke with Aang."  
  
Tenzin looked puzzled. "He was the last incarnation in the cycle, so that makes the most sense," he reasoned.  
  
"Tenzin, I did not speak with Avatar Aang, I spoke with your father Aang."  
  
Tenzin seemed to clue in at that. He seemed a bit downcast at the thought. "What could my father have said to you that would make you leave without saying goodbye?"  
  
Korra looked away to the other ships in the harbor. "He told me the truth." She couldn't hold in the tears that had been watering in her eyes once Tenzin had appeared on the deck. "I know that you love me, Tenzin. I see the look in your eyes when you look at me, but Pema doesn't deserve this. You are a man of your word but as long as I am here, you can't be."  
  
"Korra," his voice sounded choked.  
  
"I love you too, Tenzin. I have since I was a little girl and met you for the first time. But now, you have to let me go." Tenzin's hand had been locked on her wrist, though he wasn't sure when that had happened, but when he realized his grip, strong and firm, was hurting her in more than one way, he let go.  
  
Tears stung in his eyes as he embraced Korra quickly, pressing a small kiss to her hair. Her hands fisted into the back of his robes, creasing them and almost tearing the fabric. He let go and took a step back before anything else could happen. He mounted Oogi and flew off of the ship, into the skies. He never looked back.  
  
Korra glanced down to her wrist where Tenzin had grabbed her in a harsh hold unintentionally as she leaned back into Naga's furry body. The area was already bruising and she could make out his whole hand print. She wished she could keep it forever without all the pain it brought with it.  
  
Thinking of Tenzin hurt a lot more than the bruise did.  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **It's really good to hear your voice saying my name,**  
 **It sounds so sweet…**  
  
 **\---**  
  
"Send a telegram to the South Pole. Korra is sick and to send Katara. Maybe this is something they know of," she heard Zuko's voice conversing with someone else. Iroh, maybe? The voice sounded older, more like Iroh's father, Fire Lord Roku. There was only one person she wanted at that moment.  
  
"Tenz," she tried to choke out his name over and over again. "Zin. Tentson. Tenshin," she started coughing and couldn't get past how thick her tongue felt in her mouth, like it was too heavy to use.  
  
"Send another to Republic City. Tell Tenzin that Korra is asking for him."

  
*****

  
She was lost in a sea of shadows and blurs. She could hear the voice of Katara when she was closer to the surface of the shadows but in her dreams, she was with Aang. He told her of his trials as the Avatar sometimes, but much of the time, he talked to her about Tenzin. He saw that it made her happy whenever he did. Aang also saw fit to warn her of the dangers of being in her spiritual form for too long and urged her to try to wake up.  
  
Sometimes, when she drifted, she could hear his voice. When she did, her heart skipped a beat and she smiled knowing he was with her. Her Tenzin was back; her strong, confident, sophisticated, older lover. She would try to speak back but couldn't make any sound like when she talked with Aang. It frustrated her but she was happy that he was there. It always felt like his hand was threaded through hers when she could hear his voice.

  
*****

  
"When did she fall ill, Zuko?" Katara asked as she touched Korra's forehead only to withdraw her hand. She burned hotter than a fire and was shaking with tremors. Katara took Korra's hand from where it lay on the bed and held it between her two weathered hands for a minute before returning it to Korra's side.  
  
"She went into the forests for a walk and came back with that black spot on the back of her neck," Zuko motioned for the assisting healers to roll Korra onto her side and pointed to the growing black patch. "She said that a frog had fallen from the tree and hit her neck when she had been bent over but it fell off when she stood up and she felt fine. That was five days ago and she said she was feeling sick to her stomach the day after. Then, two days ago she started seizing. Roku and I nearly had a heart attack when she fell to the floor convulsing on her way to the table."  
  
Katara looked from Korra back to Zuko. "When did she even get here? That seems to be the better question! Myself, her parents, and the rest of the White Lotus members in the Southern Water Tribe were under the impression that she was still with Tenzin."  
  
Zuko put his hand to his head and rubbed it across his wrinkled forehead. "She said Aang sent her. I figured that she's the Avatar so she must know what she's doing and put her in a guest room. She got here three weeks ago and started to go into the villages surrounding the palace and help the villagers with different tasks. She's moved boulders from farmers' fields, helped to put up a new house in one of the western villages and even volunteered to serve soup to some homeless people in the city. Korra seemed to be going out of her way to help the many in need of a helping hand.  
  
"When she returned each day, the three of us and Iroh, when he was home, would eat dinner together and talk about my days chasing Aang and you guys around the world and helping Aang build Republic City in front of the fire in the drawing room. She was eager to listen but wouldn't share," Zuko paused before looking at Katara. "She wouldn't speak about Republic City much but was even more tight-lipped about her stay with Tenzin's family."  
  
"What about my family?" Tenzin strode in, shaking water from his robe before looking at Katara. He was soaked from head to toe.  
  
"Tenzin? What are you doing here? Why are you drenched?" Katara asked as she moved to embrace her son after he let a warm gust of air dry his robes and small beard.  
  
"I got Iroh's missive telling me that Fire Lord Roku requested my presence. That Korra was sick and I was needed so I flew Oogi here. I left as soon as I could and the rain came with me from Republic City all the way here." He let go of his mother's embrace and turned to Zuko. "How is she? Is there anything I can do?"  
  
Zuko shrugged, "I don't know. No one knows what's wrong."  
  
Tenzin seemed alarmed and Katara returned to Korra's side as she uncorked her hip flask of spirit water and tried to feel out the black spot on Korra's neck after the medical assistants turned her onto her stomach. "Whatever it is, it's in there deep. It's a virus but from what I can sense, it's concentrated in her blood stream." Katara pulled back for a moment before touching the blackened skin. "It's dead."  
  
"What is?" Zuko was on-edge.  
  
"The skin. The blackened part is dead. I can't heal the skin because it's dead. I need to get working on her before it spreads. I think that if I let the virus concentrate in any area that it will start to kill the area from the inside out. I think I can get rid of it, though." The elderly woman gave her distraught-looking son a smile that encouraged him.  
  
He reached out and hesitated before taking Korra's  hand in his. He felt her fingers move with more than just tremors as they slowly laced with his in a grip. He remembered her doing that when they had been together and the action was usually followed by her saying…  
  
"Never let go," he said under his breath as he sat on the side of the bed.  
  
Katara's eyebrows were in her hairline as she looked from Korra's hand to Zuko and back twice before Zuko just shrugged like they were kids again. She shook her head at him and motioned for him to leave the room with her.  
  
As soon as they were in the hallway, Zuko rounded on her. "Was that just by chance or did I miss something?"  
  
"I don't know what that was. Clearly Tenzin is close with her. Closer than any of us thought. There was a strange look in his eye though," she admitted to herself.  
  
"I recognize that look well." Katara looked at Zuko incredulously. "I thought it was just me seeing this but clearly it's not." She motioned for Zuko to continue. "I had that look on my face when the doctors told me Mai had cancer. I had that look on my face every day until she passed a few months later." Zuko pushed past his feelings for his departed wife and held Katara's gaze. "He's scared for her because he's in love with her."  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **Coming from the lips of an angel,**  
 **Hearing those words - it makes me weak…**  
  
 **\---**  
  
Instead of floating, she found herself walking. The path was steep but smooth. It tugged on the muscles in her legs to push her up the path and her breathing became more labored. There was a pain in her chest that threatened to stop her but it was as if someone was holding her hand and guiding her. Someone important; someone that she loved - Tenzin.  
  
The pain in her chest grew but she could start to hear voices. They blurred together but she was sure that she could hear Katara except she was even more clear than before. Another voice - Zuko? Roku? Maybe both. And finally, the voice she had been waiting to hear.  
  
"Tenzin," she said softly as the guiding hand gave a squeeze and continued to lead her further up the impossible hill. The path seemed to be too much and the pain in her chest flared. She let out a scream of agony.  
  
Katara's voice became louder. She was ordering someone to hold onto something before she shouted for people to leave the room. "Katara!" Korra tried to yell but it came out garbled. Katara heard her. She was sure of it and the hand guiding her squeezed again as it pulled her more up the path.  
  
She couldn't breathe.  
  


*****

  
"She's waking! Come quick Lady Katara!" Katara sat up in her bed and pulled on her robes as the petite servant alerted her of Korra's waking.  
  
She bustled down the stairs as fast as her old joints would allow her and made her way to the small infirmary room. She had extracted as much of the virus as she could yesterday and had numbed the skin on her neck before cutting away the layers of blackened, dead skin until Korra's wound bled again with healthy skin cells. The area had been repaired to the best of Katara's ability before it was wrapped up for the night.  
  
Tenzin was there still in his rumpled robes, hand still clutched in Korra's as he spoke softly. It made Katara stop at the door and listen.  
  
"Come back to me, Korra. Just please, come back. I miss you so much. I'll do anything, just please be okay," he pleaded in a whisper against their hands before pressing a kiss to hers.  
  
Zuko was right. This fact astounded Katara. She wondered who else knew.  
  
Korra groaned a bit before turning on her side towards Tenzin. Her eyes fluttered a bit before scrunching up in pain and one crept open to look at Katara's youngest son. "Neck hurts. All hurts," she muttered after her eye fell closed again.  
  
Tenzin's laugh of relief filled the room as he wiped at his face. He must have been crying, Katara thought.  Korra opened her eye again and lifted her hand that wasn't clasped in Tenzin's shakily. Her hand finally came into contact with his cheek that was covered in stubble from not shaving for two days. "Tenzin," she whispered with a smile. "Love you," was barely audible before a presence behind Katara scared her away from the doorway.  
  
"Eavesdropping, Katara? I wouldn't pin you as such a nosy old maid. Then again, you were the mother hen of the group," Zuko teased mercilessly. "Is she up?" He whispered his question so as not to be heard and was met with a nod and a 'shhh' motion as Katara leaned out to the doorway to continue spying.  
  
She was gobsmacked. Tenzin had stood from his seat and leaned over to kiss Korra on the lips. She had guessed how he felt but her son was married! 'For shame!' her mind yelled to her. That crossed the line for her and she couldn't bite her tongue before she said in her stern motherly voice, "Tenzin!"  
  
He pulled away and she could see him wincing at the thought of being called out by his mother. He said a quick goodbye to Korra before walking out of the room and following his mother to a private study.  
  
As soon as the door was shut behind him, Katara in all her elderly glory rounded on him, "What was that? You are a married man with almost four children now. Where is your sense? This would crush Pema if she knew-"  
  
"She knows." Tenzin hung his head as he let himself drop onto the red velvet couch on the side of the room. "Spirits save me," he muttered to himself. "She knew it months ago. She knew it years ago. She knew before I did." He let out a sigh. "Pema knew Korra was infatuated with me as a child when Pema and I first got together and came to see you at the Southern Water Tribe where you were training Korra.  
  
"As we visited when she got older, Pema continued to watch and said that light in her eyes and fire in her soul never flickered. Never did she change her mind. Finally, she came barreling into Republic City delivering vigilante justice that I could only wish to deliver to the people and I was sure that she had to be sent home. I didn't think that I could deal with a teenager but got a lot more than I bargained for with her.  
  
"She just started to grow on me, I guess. I would talk to Pema about her progress and tell her about how she was too volatile like fire, too unyielding like rock and too intangible like water through your fingers. Pema listened and she saw in me something that I didn't. I fell in love with her long before I started admitting it to myself."  
  
"So what did Pema do when she figured it out?" Katara pressed.  
  
"She kept it to herself and kept on like everything was the same. I still love my wife. I could not have picked another woman as brilliant as she is to start a family with. I will never regret that. But I never realized how different we are until I realized that Korra is what I need in my life. I need that dependence. I need the challenge. I need someone to be volatile when the situation calls for it, I need someone to be unyielding in their beliefs and actions and I need someone to stop my work from encompassing my life like water to a drowning man. "  
  
He sighed and ran his hand over the unfamiliar stubble marring his jaw line. "Pema told me that she wanted to stay together. That she would divorce, to allow me to pursue Korra, as long as I was sure that is what I wanted, but she would prefer to stay together. She said she wanted to still remain a family for the children. That we would work past this 'phase'. We still love each other but I know that what my mind is telling me isn't the same thing that my heart and soul yearn for.  
  
"I don't know if Korra would want that with me, though. She loves the kids and the city and she gets along with everyone, but she is but a child herself. She hasn't known the world outside of her various shelters. I don't want to get into this with her so we can and find out ten years down the road that the same thing that happened with me has happened with her. That is my fear: to love someone so wholly and not keep their love in return."  
  
There was a pregnant silence that seemed to freeze the clock in the room as Katara ruminated on what Tenzin had said. Her son was afraid. Even as a boy, Tenzin had been calm, serious and stoic. Never showing vulnerabilities if avoidable and, though a sensitive soul, never being overly emotional.  
  
"Mom," Tenzin spoke through the silence. He look from his hands to his mother and back again as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Katara watched her youngest son muster up the will to say what he needed to say. "Do you think this is wrong? That I'm wrong? I can't tell you the number of times that I have told myself that what I feel isn't right, that I'm a lecherous man, but then I see a memory; I see her and I can't imagine that what I feel - this compelling, driving force that we call love - is wrong.  
  
"It's a gift. It feels natural like breathing - no, more like bending. I've never known a point in my life where air bending felt wrong to me. Loving Korra feels like that." He stopped and looked to his mother for advice.  
  
"Oh, Tenzin," Katara sighed. "Your shoulders are too narrow for the burden you carry." Her hand found purchase on his yellow-clad shoulder and squeezed lightly. She sat down beside him on the red velvet couch. "If you listen to your heart, it is never wrong. I know that the circumstances aren't ideal and the age difference is large but if you are truly in love with her, and she with you, things will work out. My concern, if it were me in your shoes, would be the people affected by your decisions. What will happen to your children, Tenzin? Would Pema take them away from you? It's her right to do so." Tenzin's face became an expression of devastation and tears began to well up in his eyes before slipping out and free-falling onto his yellow robes, staining them a light orange.  
  
"She can't take my kids from me. I would never be able to live with myself if she took my kids from me. I can't let it come to that," Tenzin pressed the heels of his hands into his watery eyes. "I've never even met my youngest yet. I can't lose my children. I just- I can't-" his voice broke with emotion and he hung his head, not able to contemplate living without Jinora, Ikki, Meelo or even his youngest that still slept in his or her mother's womb.  
  
She lifted Tenzin's chin and turned his face to meet her eyes. "The decision is hard but if you follow your heart, it will lead you in the right direction. You have to do what you think is best, Tenzin.  
  
"If it makes you feel better, I will always love you no matter what decision you make and I'm sure your father would just want you to be happy."  
  
Tenzin smiled before hugging his mother. "I love you, Mom." He wiped his watery eyes again and gave Katara another grin, "Thank you."  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **And I never want to say goodbye...**  
  
 **\---**  
  
"I have to leave soon." He knew that she preferred the facts to be plain and bare instead of sugar-coated, so he was blunt with his intention to leave.  
  
Korra was downcast at the news. "Oh," was all she said before averting her eyes, slumping into the bed and curling up on her side facing Tenzin. "I just thought that you might stay longer."  
  
"Pema knows. She gave me a choice of her or you. You know how I feel about you and that I'm here for you should you ever need me but Pema has the kids. I need to be there for them first and foremost, no matter how I feel. You understand, right?" Korra nodded listlessly. She did understand, almost too well, the love that Tenzin had for his children. They were his entire being and happiness in this crazy world and she could never ask him to give up his children.  
  
She finished her thoughts and turned onto her opposite side, hiding the tears falling traitorously from her eyes. "I understand. Goodbye Tenzin." Her voice didn't waiver and had a sense of finality in it. Tenzin's hand ran over her shoulder as he stood up and gave it a gentle squeeze before he let go and walked away from Korra and whatever future they might have had together if they had been different people living a different life. "Goodbye Love, goodbye." She whispered to the empty air around her and heard a hitch in Tenzin's pace as he left the room.  
  


*****

  
Tenzin had left for Republic City a week ago and Katara for the South Pole soon after. Korra was recovering steadily and spent more time with Zuko than any of the other men of the Fire Lord's family. It seemed to her that the men of the family were doomed to out-live their wives in every generation.  The thought made Korra sad but she soon found that Zuko didn't mind talking about his past. She loved the stories he had about his uncle, General Iroh. The old man had passed away when Zuko's son was a toddler and thus, had never met his namesake that also came to hold the title of General.  
  
What seemed to also hold her attention was that at almost 60 years old, Zuko looked far more youthful than she had ever remembered Katara being despite being older than her by at least half a decade. She often found herself admiring the scar on his face when she thought he wasn't looking. She could definitely see where Roku and Iroh got their handsome features from. She found herself asking about the scar before she could stop herself and Zuko responded in kind by telling her the story of his vicious father and their duel resulting in his banishment.  
  
Just when she thought that she had overstepped a boundary, Zuko surprised her with kindness. It wasn't long before she found herself opening up to the former Fire Lord.  
  


*****

  
"Roku, have you seen your father?"  
  
The Fire Lord looked up from his morning paper at the Avatar. He still couldn't reconcile the sweet girl he had gotten to know with the girl that he knew had become Tenzin's mistress of sorts. He had made sure that such knowledge would never leave the palace but it couldn't seem to leave his mind either.  
  
He could clearly see the qualities that must have endeared her to Tenzin and she certainly wasn't hard on the eyes but the idea that she could love a man twice her age that had children was beyond him. Roku's own wife had been his childhood sweetheart and she had died in childbirth giving him his first and only heir Iroh. To love someone so much older with baggage of their own was crazy to him and looking at Korra now, he would never have guessed.  
  
In any case, the girl before him seemed to be getting along more famously with his father than anyone had in recent years. "He hasn't come down yet. I imagine he'll be along shortly." She nodded in acceptance and poured herself a cup of the Jasmine tea that Zuko always kept in a separate teapot on the table by his setting at every meal. Her mouth quirked up at the edges in what was now becoming a regular expression on the young Avatar's face when she took her first sip of the hot tea and every subsequent drink afterwards.  
  
Zuko entered then and eyed up the girl before him. He took his regular seat at the table and poured his tea as usual to find that only a half cup was left. "I see that you've found my special blend of tea satisfactory," he grinned at her.  
  
"You've been spoiling me with this delicious tea at tea time, so I figured a creature of habit such as yourself would have the same tea at mealtimes. It was delightful," she sounded unrepentant and Zuko only smiled as he asked a servant for another pot of the Jasmine tea.  
  
Roku observed this changing dynamic. Maybe Korra was good for his father to have around.  
  


*****

  
The turtle-ducks splashed in the pond as Zuko sat with Korra watching the sun beginning to set along the horizon.  
  
"Can I ask you an honest question?" Zuko voice was smooth as he looked down at her. Korra hesitated for a second before nodding her consent. "Why did you take up with Tenzin? You're a beautiful, talented girl that could have any boy you wanted. Why him?"  
  
She sighed and thought for a moment, "Is it cliché for me to say that I've always been in love with him? I saw him a bit as a young girl in the Southern Water Tribe and when he would come to visit, he would always come see me at the compound. Everyone knew that he would be the one to train me in air bending someday so I always knew that one day I would get to see him and tell him how I felt but that soon changed as he got married and started his family.  
  
"It was never my intent to continue to pursue a married man. I knew when I showed up in Republic City that he was off limits and I respected that; I was truly there to start my bending training. After some things went down with the Equalists, my boyfriend at the time was killed. I was at a loss. Tenzin tried to help me through it bit by bit but one night I took it too far. I took what I thought I needed and I started to feel better. Piece by piece, his relationship with me started to give me the emotional strength and control I needed to use my bending safely and even find the spiritual connection that I've never had before.  
  
"The first and only time that I have been able to reach my previous lives through meditation only, Aang appeared to me and told me that even thought we both loved each other, we were hurting one another and the people we love. He told me to let Tenzin go. To come here and seek out the Fire Lord. That I was needed here."  
  
A shiver went through her spine then and she knew Aang was with them. "He's here, Zuko."  
  
The retired Fire Lord smiled, "You truly do embody my old friend. His favorite place in the palace was here by the pond watching the turtle-ducks. We have sat here many times just like this. He was here when my son was born, when my uncle died, when my wife Mai passed, and he came to me three days before he died to tell me that he knew his time had come. Each time we sat on this bench and watched the sun set on another day. The last time he was here, he told me that I would find happiness again on this bench watching the sun set on another day."  
  
He turned to Korra and looked into her eyes as her hand twined with his. "I would be obliged if you would stay here a while longer," he spoke softly. "At my age, there are few things left in life to be enjoyed and your company is one of them."  
  
"I guess I could stay a bit longer." Korra's smile made her eyes sparkle like the sunset across the pond's surface. "I like your company too."  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **But, girl, you make it hard to be faithful...**  
  
 **\---**  
  
Two telegrams were received by the house of the Fire Lord announcing the birth of Tenzin's son Rohan. One for the Fire Lord and his family and another for Korra. Zuko was out for a few more days as he had gone to visit Katara in the South Pole as he did every year. Korra stayed behind and was back to helping the people of the Fire Nation. She had been helping some fishermen repair their nets when the United Forces pulled into the harbor and she went over to see if Iroh was back. Waving goodbye to the fishermen, she got to the docked ships when Iroh stepped off the largest ship in the fleet.  
  
"Good sailing?" she asked in a greeting as he embraced her.  
  
"It's always good sailing. It's peacetime, remember?" His grin was infectious. "So tell me, where have you left my grandfather this time?"  
  
"He's actually in the South Pole visiting Katara."  
  
"Huh," he seemed to think of something privately.  
  
"What?" Korra was puzzled by his reaction.  
  
Iroh shook his head. "I was just thinking that it was odd for him to go on a trip to the South Pole."  
  
"Why? Doesn't he go every year?"  
  
"Yes, but not during the winter season. He goes when it's warmer down there, not colder," Iroh explained. "In any case, I imagine he'll be back soon?"  
  
Korra nodded, "Yeah. He's due to come home in a few days."  
  
The general smirked at her tone, "Clearly the tea doesn't taste the same," he joked. Korra quirked an eyebrow at his statement in question. "It's a figure of speech. It means that you miss him."  
  
She was pensive for a moment before agreeing. "He's my confidant; probably the closest friend that I've ever had."  
  
"You wound me, woman. And here I thought I was your best friend."  
  
Korra gave him a playful shove to the side as they continued to walk through the harbor to the car that was waiting to take the General home to the palace. They climbed in and drove up to the palace where Roku was waiting for them at the doors.  
  
"I found him in the harbor Roku, can we keep him?" Roku laughed at Korra's antics and embraced his son before leading them into the sitting room. The Fire Lord smiled at the two thinking about what a great couple they would have made in a different life, if the world had been a different place than it currently was. In this life, his Iroh had no chance of winning the Avatar's heart.  
  
He remembered the telegrams and took the one for Korra out of his robe pocket along with his own. "We received two telegrams today," he said as he passed one to each Korra and Iroh. Korra opened hers and smiled before she frowned. She looked back up at Roku before she excused herself from the room.  
  
Iroh watched her go curiously. He had glimpsed hers for a moment to see that her telegram had been longer than the other in his own hands. What could Tenzin or Pema say that would affect her so?  
  
The naming ceremony would be in a week, a few days after Zuko got back. Hopefully her issues would be resolved before then.  
  


*****

  
Roku let Korra have her space for the next few days but let his concern rule his actions as he went searching for her on the day that his father was due to arrive home. Roku might be the Fire Lord but Zuko had a long-suppressed temper that Roku didn't want to bare the brunt of for not taking proper care of Korra.  
  
He searched her rooms, the gardens and his father's study and kept looking in every place he could think of until a servant came to him telling him that the other servants had found her. She was curled up in his father's room on a couch asleep. He thanked the servant and made his way into the room to see her. She was sleeping a bit fitfully and her face had a new paleness about it that was emphasized by dark circles under her eyes. Roku decided if best to leave her there and covered her with a blanket.  
  
His father could wake her when he got home.  
  
"Fire Lord Roku, the honorable Fire Lord Zuko has just arrived," a servant man at the door informed him as Roku shut the door to his father's room behind him.  
  
Speak of the devil.  
  
Roku nodded his thanks to the servant and walked down the corridors to meet his father.

  
*****

  
A hand slowly carding through her hair was the first thing that Korra registered as she awoke. The next was the smell of Jasmine tea that awakened her olfactory sense and she drew in a deep breath. Her eyes opened to see red drapes around her and she was in bed. 'My bed doesn't have red drapes around it,' was the first thought she had before she closed her eyes again. The fingers against her scalp felt heavenly.  
  
'What?' her mind recoiled.  
  
Her eyes opened again and she turned over to see her most trusted and closest of friends in the world. "Zuko," she smiled. "I missed you. When did you get back?" She yawned and tried to stifle it to no avail.  
  
"A few hours ago," he said softly. He smiled at her, his scarred eye crinkling more at the corner than his good eye. She reached a hand up to touch his face and he leaned his face into her palm, not self-conscious of his scar at all. His self-confidence made her wish she was as strong as him; that she could draw on his strength some days and, in a way, she did.  
  
She drew her hand away before pulling up the blanket for him in a silent invitation that he accepted by climbing under the blankets with her, both still dressed for the day. "How are you feeling?"  
  
Korra thought about it for a minute in silence. "Conflicted. Unconfident. Confused."  
  
"What's on your mind?" Zuko asked as he took her hand in his older one.  
  
"Tenzin sent me a telegram and I'm not sure how to feel about it. Pema wants me to come and offer blessings over the child at the naming ceremony and I have been invited to stay on the island with them again for the day of the ceremony. I don't know if I can face her, knowing what we both know, let alone face Tenzin. I wish I could bottle your self-confidence Zuko. Your strength and determination too."  
  
He chuckled at that. "What else?"  
  
"Well, that's sort of it. Though I am confused on how I ended up in this bed." Zuko smiled.  
  
"I thought you would be more comfortable sleeping on my bed than my couch. I wouldn't want you to hurt your neck or something."  
  
"Thank you," she smiled as she rubbed her thumb along the top of Zuko's hand, feeling the fading scars from the war, raised and smooth, on his skin.  
  
"I want to be honest with you on something," at Korra's nod he continued. "I didn't go to the South Pole to see Katara." He paused, unsure if this was the right thing to do. "I went to see your father as well."  
  
"Why would you go see him?" Her voice have away her apprehension at the topic of conversation.  
  
He sighed. "I had to go see him in accordance with Fire Nation traditions." At her continued look of confusion, he spoke again. "He wasn't pleased to see me at first but in spite of everything, I got what I went there for," at this he smiled which alleviated a bit of her nerves.  
  
"Which is...?" She sat up in the bed looking at him as he mirrored her actions.  
  
"Korra of the Southern Water Tribe, I would like to ask your permission for the opportunity to court you in accordance with the traditional Fire Nation courting procedures."  
  
He didn't have a moment to worry about her answer as she flung herself at him in a hug and squeezed him tightly. He could feel her nodding against his shoulder. "Yes. Spirits, yes."  
  
At that moment nothing else mattered; not the age difference, not the affair with Tenzin, not the worries of her family nor his. They were each other's second chance.  
  
That night they stayed together in the retired Fire Lord's bed just talking and when the words escaped them and the pot of Jasmine tea went cold, they slept in content embrace.  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **With the lips of an angel…**  
  
 **\---**  
  
Iroh was given leave for three days to attend the naming ceremony with Roku, Zuko and Korra in Republic City and see them home safely. Zuko had gone over Korra's role in the naming ceremony as he remembered what Aang had done for Roku and Iroh when they were born.  
  
Zuko had also gone over what was also expected of her as the courted consort of the honorable Fire Lord Zuko. She wore a red tunic under her white Avatar ceremony robes, a Fire Nation royal headpiece and golden earrings in her ears with the Fire Nation flame ensignia dangling from each lobe.  
  
The former Fire Lord had never see a vision so beautiful in his life. Even the former Fire Lady Mai would have admitted such words. Her water bender blue eyes complimented the ensemble magnificently. The headpiece was a simple golden circlet with the Fire Nation ensignia dangling at each temple. The gold jewelery was pristinely polished as the servants had been elated with the announcement and had gone overboard with the preparations for the future Lady.  
  
On the deck of the ship, Korra was nervous and Zuko did his best to calm her, finally resorting to a chaste kiss with her in his arms. It seemed to do the trick as she calmed down from her near panic attack. Aside from the fact that she was returning to Republic City, this was the first time that she had to leave Naga behind and was worried about the polar bear-dog too.  
  
"Don't worry. Naga is fine and we'll just be gone for a few days." He smiled at her and the scarred side of his face wrinkled by his eyes more than the other side. "You'll do well in the ceremony too, Dearest. I know it." She hugged him hard once more before she felt sure enough to release him. Roku came over and placed a hand on her shoulder as Zuko went to talk to the captain of the ship.  
  
"It's been a long time since I've seen my father this happy. Not even when my mother was still alive was he this happy."  
  
"Roku, I-"  
  
"I know you're not trying to take her place or cheapen her memory. The fact is that my parents married out of convenience. They were expected to marry before he was banished and they maintained a friendship after the fall of my grandfather's reign. He loved my mother, but he has never truly been in love before." Roku looked off into the waters of the approaching port - Republic City. "You're not just my father's second chance at love, you're his first. I just wanted you to know that," he smiled and removed his hand from her shoulder, leaving her to think over the latest revelation before Zuko's return.  
  


*****

  
Tenzin greeted guests as they arrived at the island and ushered them into the yard where the ceremony would take place. When the Fire Nation royal family made their way up the hill, Tenzin found himself looking for Korra and was flabbergasted when he finally realized that the girl on Zuko's arm was the same girl that ran away from the South Pole to hone her air bending with him in Republic City. The same girl that said goodbye to him for the last time.  
  
Her hair was out of her usual ponytail and fell down to her waist in natural waves. The circlet and earrings made Tenzin's breath hitch - she was being courted. His eyes flicked from her to Zuko. 'Surely not,' he thought. He's at least forty, forty-five years older than her. Maybe fifty years her senior for all he knew.  
  
She stopped for a moment at the end of the steps and all three men stopped with her. Zuko waved his son and grandson ahead and that's when he saw it. A delegate from Ba Sing Se was in front of Tenzin, shaking his hand and offering congratulations to him but all he saw was Zuko lifting Korra's chin, speaking to her in hushed tones and the kiss. The kiss was where he lost it. His gaze came back to the delegate from the Earth Kingdom capital and he couldn't get a grip on his stomach.  
  
"Councilman Tenzin, you look a bit pale. Are you alright?" The delegate looked genuinely concerned for the health of his host.  
  
"I think that I've just been out in the sun too long. Please excuse me a moment," he retreated as quickly as possible into the house and all but ran to the restroom once inside. He emptied the contents of his stomach into the commode before standing at the sink and splashing water on his face.  
  
A knock came at the door. "Daddy, are you alright?" Jinora called from the other side of the door.  
  
"Yes. I'll be out in a moment. Could you direct guests to the yard please?" That would keep her busy and buy him enough time to pull himself together. Maybe he couldn't do this. Both times that he had left Korra, on the ship and later in the Fire Nation, he found himself feeling bereft. Like a piece of him had died and he could never get it back. Now seeing her again; it haunted him everytime that he closed his eyes. She was now the betrothed of another man. An older man, a man that was older than even Tenzin. Hell, Zuko was old enough to be his father and Korra's grandfather. The nausea was back.  
  
"Tenzin, are you alright in there? Korra's here and everyone else seems to be here too. We're just waiting on you to start the ceremony."  
  
Pema was a good woman and an even greater wife. She deserved better than Tenzin and what he had become. Since returning from the Fire Nation, he had become listless in his spare time, moving around the house without rhyme or reason but yet,  his steps were that of a well choreographed dance. If he was interrupted in those moments, he would immediately retreat for the rest of the day into his office. If left alone to continue his wandering, he would eventually continue his day as if the entire episode had not even occurred once he came out of it.  
  
This worried Pema to no end. Never before had she seen him do this and he sometimes seemed to be watching something or talking to someone. He looked like he was going insane but he was better, the old Tenzin, after he had these episodes. He would be his normal level-headed self. On one occasion she had confronted him about it and he had no recollection of the previous hour he had spent standing behind some bushes in the garden.  
  
She hoped with all her might that he wasn't having a episode in the bathroom. That was the last thing that she needed today. She didn't have time to ponder what she would do if he was as he opened the door and pulled her into an embrace. "I love you so much, Pema. Never forget that." Tenzin's voice carried such conviction that she couldn't help but believe it. "I am so lucky to have you and our four children."  
  


*****

  
After the ceremony, drinks flowed and so did conversation. The crowd started to thin well into the afternoon and Pema finally found a moment to get Korra alone to talk. She had been helping some acolyte women wrap up the food from the ceremony when Pema came in and called for her.  
  
"Would you mind taking a stroll with me? It's been so long since we've talked," Pema reasoned.  
  
Korra nodded and they left the house, walking along the grounds to where the air bending gates were and a small natural spring with a bench just beyond it.  
  
When they sat down Pema got right to the point. "I'm worried for my husband." Korra gave a startled look at the topic and Pema pushed on. "As much as a wife hates to admit that her husband isn't with the right woman, I can admit that to you, if no one else. At least when he snuck around with you, he redoubled his efforts with me and the kids. The Tenzin that we both knew is gone, Korra." She sighed heavily.  
  
"What do you mean? He looks to be the same, not that I've had the chance to talk to him for more than five minutes."  
  
"He's a broken man. He had these, these episodes. He walks around the house in silence but his lips move like he's talking to someone. I found him behind the bushes by the pond once, just standing there, staring at the ground for an hour. I asked him what he was doing that time after he came out of his trance and he asked what I was talking about. He said he had come from his office just then. He didn't even see me walk beside him into the house. I haven't told anyone else of his strange behavior."  
  
"Why not? It sounds like he needs help, Pema."  
  
"I don't want to lose him or the kids. If it got out that he's having these episodes the powers that be could take him away and put him in a mental ward or take the children citing that they're not safe in a home with him when he's like that. You though," she raised her head and looked Korra in the eye, "you would never hurt him. You may have moved on, but I know that you still love him. I have come to accept that."  
  
Tears flowed out of Korra's eyes to her cheeks where she wiped them away. "I never got the chance to apologize to you for what happened. I never came here with the intention of poaching your husband. And what I told you before about Aang is true; he's always watching over you."  
  
Pema nodded and they feel into silence for a moment. "I don't think that he truly had closure for your relationship, Korra. It feels like he's following your ghost, your memory around the island. Like he's trying to keep a grip on what is left of you, but he can't."  
  
Korra leaned forward and embraced Pema. "He'll be okay, I promise. If this continues for a few more months, send for me and I will come back. You're not alone." She let go of the older woman that also had tears in her eyes and a sad smile on her face.  
  
The women stood together from the bench and link arms to walk back to the house. Before they reached the air bending gates, Pema spoke once more.  
  
"Korra, I need to ask something of you."  
  
"Sure, what is it?"  
  
"If something were to happen to me, I want you to take over. I want you to be my successor in this family. I just want to know that should there ever come an event that takes me from my family that they'll be okay." Pema stopped her and held Korra's gaze. "Can you promise me this?"  
  
"I promise that should something happen to you, I will do my best to take care of your family. I expect the same from you as well. Should something happen to me and I leave behind Zuko or children or both, you will watch over them."  
  
"Agreed." She hugged Korra again and they set out for the house to find all the guests gone except for Katara, Pema's mother Hope, Roku, Iroh, and Zuko.  
  
Korra smiled a genuine smile at Zuko before sitting beside him at the low table and dropping a quick kiss on his scarred cheek.  
  
"Did you have a good walk?" he smiled at her, clearly noting the absence of nerves.  
  
"The best. Everything is great." She truly meant every word she said.  
  
The next day they left Air Bender Island without Korra ever having a chance to talk to Tenzin like she knew they needed to but she embraced Pema and each of the children as if they were her own. They were in a way, she figured.  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **Honey why you calling me so late?**  
  
 **\---**  
  
"Dad, Dad, Dad! Wake up! Mom says you're late for breakfast." Four year old Wan jumped up and down on his parent's bed to wake his father.  
  
"Alright, I'm up, I'm up. Where's your sister, you hooligan?" Zuko pulled his feet out of bed and ensconced them in his usual black slippers.  
  
"Kyo is already downstairs with mom and Roku," he said as he gave one last bounce and jumped off the bed, bending the air around him for a graceful landing. Zuko's children were the stuff of legends. Who had ever heard of an air bender being born to a water bender and fire bender. His twin sister Kyoshi was a fire bender and he was thought to have no bending ability until he let out a sneeze at the age of two and had blown everything to the far side of the room.  
  
Korra theorized that it was a part of the dragon's gift to Zuko paired with her ability as the Avatar that allowed him to father an air bender. It made sense to her but geneticists insisted that it shouldn't be possible. She also knew that Aang also had a hand in such a miracle and had told Zuko as much.  
  
Zuko and Wan made it down to the table and Roku was showing his little sister how to put out a candle stick that he had lit in the middle of the table. Zuko took his place beside his wife of almost five years and pressed a kiss to her temple before passing a hand over her swollen stomach. Hopefully this new child would be a water bender, he thought.  
  
The only regret that Zuko had was that he wouldn't be around much longer. He could feel it, his inner flame was getting smaller by the day. He had many a tearful talks with Korra about his health. They had accepted the very real possibility that she would outlive him by many decades when they married but to have such a short time together seemed to weigh her down more every passing day.  
  
They both knew that the day where Zuko would pass came closer. It was almost time to put his plan into action.  
  
After breakfast, he pulled his eldest son to the side and spoke in soft tones. "Roku, my son, my time is short. It will be a miracle if I last long after my newest progeny is born. I need you to stick to the plan. She won't want to, but you will have to force her; make her go through with the marriage.  
  
"I expect you to call in reinforcement swiftly after my death. Will you still do this for me? For my wife and children?" Zuko asked one last time.  
  
Roku gave a quick nod. "Yes, Father."  
  
They had reached an understanding and proceeded with their days with that in mind.  
  


*****

  
"Honorable Fire Lord, you're wife has given you a son." The attendant waved him before her into the room.  
  
He walked over to Korra who was holding a bundle wrapped in red cloth. He sat on the edge of Korra's bed and gazed down into the cooing face of his son. This one had Korra's blue eyes just like Wan. "A water bender, perhaps." His voice held a reverent tone.  
  
"Shall we name him after you, Love?" Korra's eyes sparkled as she watched her husband interact with his newest son.  
  
"No. I want to name him after you." Zuko had been thinking on this long and hard. He liked the idea of naming all of his children after past Avatars. "You wouldn't want his siblings to tease him."  
  
Korra quirked a brow at her husband before realizing his train of thought, "Aang." At Zuko's nod she grinned. "Welcome my beautiful Aang," she cooed at her son. "Do you want to hold him?"  
  
At Zuko's nod, he picked up the bundle of swaddled cloth and rocked the cooing baby in his arms. "Aang."  
  


*****

  
"Pema, wake up. We have to go. Let's get the kids ready," Tenzin woke his wife in the dead of night.  
  
Her confusion was clear across her face. "What's the matter? Where are we going? It's 2 AM, Tenzin." One word was her answer.  
  
"Zuko."  
  
Her eyes wide and she hurried to dress herself before rushing into the kids' rooms to wake and dress them. Tenzin packed their things and got Oogi from the stable. In half an hour, they had everyone dressed, packed and were leaving Air Bender Island for the Fire Nation.  
  
When they arrived several hours later, Roku escorted them in and brought Tenzin to Korra's room. She lay there on her side staring at the wall. He spoke her name as he sat down on the edge of her bed. She didn't move at first or register that she wasn't alone. Tenzin carded his hand through her hair and whispered her name again.  
  
"Clearly the tea doesn't taste the same," she whispered hoarsely. "I can't believe he's gone. Left me to raise our kids by myself. Aang will never know his father. Kyo and Wan will be heart broken."  
  
"He left with a plan, Korra," Tenzin said this as he turned her onto her other side to face him. "After the funeral, you are to come home with me. Zuko told me to bring you into my home as my second wife. To help you raise your children as if they were my own. To teach them about him and never let him be forgotten. To tell them stories about their father hunting mine across the world and how they came to rebuild their world together.  
  
"He always knew that I would never be able to let you go; that I would love you no matter what. You made a pact with Pema just as I made one with Zuko." He wiped tears from her face and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "What do you say?"  
  
Korra sat up in the bed, her hair a mess, eyes bloodshot from crying and her hands still shaking from her shot nerves. "Why would you want me? Surely Pema doesn't want another wife in the house. Haven't I already ruined both your lives enough? Haven't I broken enough people in this world? Haven't I been broken enough?"  
  
Tenzin let out a much needed sigh. "I think a lot about the time when we made love in the garden, behind the bushes by the pond. I remember that I had intended to break off our relationship then, but I couldn't. I saw the need in your eyes but what I didn't realize then was that there was something else in your eyes. You loved me for so long that it had become ingrained into your person. Every glance, every stare; you hold your love for me in your eyes. It took me a long time to figure that out.  
  
"Zuko didn't take as long as me. I remember when he approached me at your wedding. He said that he realized that he couldn't keep you forever. That you would never be wholly his. He knew, Korra. He knew better than all of us. Pema came to me after and told me of your pact and Zuko decided the same with both Pema and I in agreement.  
  
"You can't help who you love. You of all people should know that Korra. I love you more than life itself. Please, would you do me the honor of letting me court you and, eventually, becoming my wife?"  
  
The tears ran faster down Korra's face.  
  
 **\---**  
  
 **END**  
  
 **\---**

**Author's Note:**

> I'm thinking of posting a sequel to this. Yes? No? Reviews and kudos are loved and appreciated.


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